Po boy method or casting on the cheap

[tengaugetx]

Who else out there is casting out of a ladle or small pan because they have to? I'm sure there are those who for whatever reason can't afford an electric pot. What's your set up?

[country gent]

I ladle cast from a cast iron dutch oven with a turkey frier base and weed burner for a heat source. Not because its a cheap set up. I perfer large amounts of lead to keep everything the same or as close as possible. Each time I smelt up alloy my big pot 300+ lbs each ingot is numbered from the pot. when casting an equal number of that alloy are blended to fill th dutch oven each time, reblending the alloy into a more consistent mix. CAsting from 100 lbs give a larger number of bullets for each batch or lot. I cast bigger bullets 400-550 grns and feel I get better fillout/consistency with the ladle. will fill the pot and ussually takes 3 sessions to empty it of 3-4 hours casting time. This is what works for me best. My big soft bullets stay consistent and shoot very well. Alloying 3-4 300+ lb batches is a couple weekends work but worth it. I havent smelted in several years as Its easier to buy the alloy I want.

[gwpercle]

Thats the way I started, an old kitchen pot, my heat source was the kitchen stove. When Lee came out with the Precision Melter I got one . My wife was quite happy I moved the casting out of the kitchen. Best investment I ever made. I still use it, my only complaint is its size. ( Titan is selling them for $33.34) . I used it last Saturday to cast up a few hundred 303 boolits
Keep at it and don't let a lack of fancy, expensive equiptment stop your casting...we all started on the cheap. Good boolits can be poured out of a pot and don't let anyone tell you different.
Gary

[Dale in Louisiana]

My first pot was welded up from an eight-inch chunk of eight-inch pipe with a quarter-inch plate base. I bet it held fifty pounds of lead. I used the kitchen stove and a casting session was several hundred .530 round balls for my muzzle loader, using a Lyman ladle. All that mass means that once the pot is at a good temperature, it remains pretty steady, and for my 6'2" frame, the height of the stove made it very comfortable to cast while standing. The pot was free, the ladle and the mold were the expenses.

dale in Louisiana

[w5pv]

When I started I used a modified spoon for a ladle,a ten # cast iron pot ,a fish fryer burner and stand for the heat source.I now have old Lyman bottom pour casting pot that I traded for it is probably about 20 years ole but still works.

[wch]

I started with a single burner propane stove, a Lyman lead pot, and a ladle; used this setup for several years.

[gbrown]

I started way back when with a burner and an old plumber's pot, a big one, held 40 or 50 #. When I got outa casting, it got lost. Got back into casting and used Dad's small plumber's pot--10 or 20#. Wanted a bigger one, an old retired plumber friend gave me one. 40 or 50 #. Found another big one. Have 1 small and 2 big now. Tried using bottom pour furnaces and never liked 'em. I ladle cast with either a Lyman ladle (small molds) or a Rotometal #2 (big molds). It's whatever you like and works for you.

[DeanWinchester]

I started out with a goodwill pot and an electric stove top style burner plate. Used that set up for years and tens of thousands of boolits.
I still cast from a small Lyman pot and a ladle. Not much of an upgrade.

[1Shirt]

I started on the kitchen stove with a cast iron fry pan and a second hand lyman ladle.
1Shirt!

[Garyshome]

Back in those days I only had 1 Shirt too. I use lee bottom pour stuff, never used a ladle.

[Mk42gunner]

I started out this time using a Coleman stove for a heat source, with a cast iron one pint sauce pan and a stainless steel ladle with a slight crimp in the edge to pour from. The setup worked okay, but the heat radiating from the stove and pot combo was uncomfortable. The first replacement was to buy an RCBS lead dipper, much easier to fill molds with.

I could go back to that stuff as long as I had a tall work bench to set the stove on.

Now I use a Turkey fryer and a homemade pot that matches Dale's (8" section of 8" pipe) to smelt with and an RCBS Promelt to cast with. I also have my first Lee 4-20 that I keep as a back up.

I still like using a ladle, even though I have the bottom pour pots.

Robert

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Originally started with a Lyman casting pot and ladle on a gas stove. Pot was just $3-4 dollars and the ladle was $2. or $3. Made lots of mistakes at first. Had only one mold which was a single cav. With practice and a lot of funny looking bullets thrown back in the pot, things kept getting better and then I turned out a lot of good bullets for a long time to come. It sometimes takes patience and perseverance, but with determination one can succeed. Equipment doesn't have to be high-end. LLS

[carolina556]

I'm smelting in a pot that actually almost burnt my house down three years ago....forgot I had oil going for my okra, after 10+ mins on high came back into the room as fire was crawling up the kitchen cabinet....long story short I had to carry the pot on fire cause my infant was crawling into the room and I ran out of time to extinguish it...went out back door and a accidentally tipped the pot andmy hand getting fried hand at 700+ degrees...at which point I threw ehe pot and lit side of house aflame....after I came home from hospital I the the pot into the fire pit...burned the years of fires in there...was looking for a pot to smelly and I decided to take that burnt up pot and put it back to work.....

[eljefeoz]

cast iron dutch oven and double burner stove connected to my BBQ
Started smelting my first 'score' of WW on it
found it was easy to use a home made ladle as a dipper.
I hope I dont change-Am getting very good results off a 0.285 RCBS-SIL in 145 and 168 gr

[dikman]

I'm using a stainless steel saucepan on a (camping) gas burner, with a home-made dipper. Works well, but I'm upgrading to an RCBS Pro-Melt - when it gets here - as I figured after all this time I deserved a treat!

[Sasquatch-1]

I think I have you all beat for on the cheap. I started 35 years ago with an old canned veggie can and a Lyman ladle. Worked fine until the solder joint on the can gave way. I was surprised how long it actually lasted. Now I wouldn't recommend starting that way, but when your young and dumb you do foolish things. I eventually bought a Lee 10# bottom pour after a tinsel fairy incident in the kitchen.

[Wayne Smith]

I donno, Sasquatch, I started with a Coleman propane camping stove my dad gave me and a reclaimed kitchen SS pot. I still have the pot full of pure, the stove started leaking in a couple of joints so I splurged on new single burner Coleman a few years ago. I invested in a Lyman Cast Iron pot and Ladle and am still using it. So, other than lead and the Lyman stuff, I have one Coleman stove bought on sale and the gas. Oh, and a 20gal propane tank that I refill.

I prefer to spend my hard earned dollars on molds.

[WILCO]

I started with an old cast iron skillet, a ladle and a coil hotplate.

[inspector_17]

Haven't been at it too long but, I use a small stainless pot and a single burner propane camp stove.

[texassako]

I found a cheap used Hot Pot II to get me started. Did not even get a ladle until recently since it had a pour spout. I still use it, but with the ladle because some molds just did not like to be filled from that spout. It gives my forearms a good workout as well when pouring straight from the pot into a Lyman 4 cavity mold in the other for an hour or so.

[Tdart]

I use a 99 cent saucepot I got from goodwill; maybe 2-3 quart. My heat source is a free two burner hotplate. One keeps my mold hot, the other melts the lead. My ladle is a semi-squished condiment cup attached to a piece of wooden broom handle. About as cheap as it gets, and it turns out good bullets.

[Dales66Ford]

I use a decent sized dutch oven i got for free over my fire pit and use big "customized" spoons and ladles to pour. About as low buck as you can go.

[paul h]

I started out with a Lee bottom pour furnace and two cavity mold, both used and I think the guy only charged me $25 plus shipping ~15 years ago. Since I started with a bottom pour that's the way I've always cast, but I have upgraded the furnace to a pair of Saeco's and somewhere along the line I think I gave away that mold.

So starting out on the cheap doesn't preclude one from using a bottom pour furnace.

[bob208]

back when I started I had a small coal stove in my shop. made a pot to fit the top got a good hot fire going and dipped my bullets with a lyman ladle. the ladle I bought used for $2 the pot I made at work out of scrap stainless steel. the stove came out of the junk pile.

[starmac]

LOL We have one member that didn't even buy handles for his mold for a while. Talk about starting cheap. lol

[HNSB]

I started with a saucepan over a coleman stove and a silver gravy ladle, which I bent a spout into with a pair of pliers.
I started not long after my ex-wife took off. She left behind her grandmother's silver. It was in the garage, and I needed a ladle.